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Reviewed by David O'Brien 3 / 10

Emperor's new clothes. Slower than lava

This is as slow moving and as unsatisfying as "Garage", the other Lenny
Abrahamson film I have had the misfortune to see. The problem with his
films is that there are long scenes with no dialogue, and the story
barely moves along. Even the incident which changes the lives of the
characters is very slight, when it happens. There has been a lot of
praise given for Jack Reynor's performance. I didn't think much of it.
He didn't come across that convincingly. He had a breakdown and he
cried a lot. So what. If that's considered superb acting, then blow me
down with a feather. He doesn't deliver his dialogue with much
conviction. There's lots of hugging going on and the word "man" said a
lot. The bulk of the cast are most unlikeable. The one actor in it that
I thought was quite good was Lars Mikkelsen as the father. I don't
think I will ever sit through this film again. It was 87 minutes long
and felt like an eternity

Reviewed by runamokprods 8 / 10

Great elements, good film

This film seems to confirm and amplify Abrahamson's (Adam & Paul,
Garage) considerable strengths as a film-maker, and, to a lesser extent
his frustrating weaknesses.

On the plus side, he is great with his actors, both in who he casts and
what he gets out of them. His characters always feel complex and real.
He also sets up very convincing, morally ambiguous worlds, situations
and people. No easy heroes and villains.

But he also has a tendency to be drawn to melodramatic twists, and
those actually make his films less interesting, not more, as it feels
like he's trying to force the emotional issues.

In many ways my favorite part of the film was the first 45 minutes
before the central incident. Abrahamson is great at observing and
capturing the complexities of late teen-age life with subtlety and a
fresh eye. These aren't the desperate angry street kids of poverty, nor
are they the morally bankrupt idiots we often see rich kids portrayed
as. They feel real; they drink, but they're not all alcoholics and
stoners. They have sex, but more often than not it's attached to some
sense of emotion, at graspings towards being in a relationship. Their
parents are flawed but trying. Its people as people, not just symbols,
even though subtle issues of class and social standing inform the whole
story.

But when it gets to the big twists and the big themes, I felt it
laboring more, working at it's effects instead of letting them happen.
It's not that the 2nd half isn't good,it's that it lacks the power the
set up and situation seems to promise. It sticks to it's ambiguity, but
it starts to feel just a touch like an intellectual conceit, not an
exploration of darker human truths.

Reviewed by Hey You Guys 5 / 10

Decent effort "Like"

I almost enjoyed the film but the dialogue was poor and left the film wanting.To be fair the film did have some half decent acting from a young cast and the film ticked along nicely holding my interest throughout.The setting did seem more like the kind of Ireland i grew up in myself during the Celtic tiger.

I doubt this film will be winning awards but it was a decent watch all the same.So just to have a bit of a moan i have to say my major gripe with the film was how annoying the lead actors accent was.This might be a slight exaggeration but it felt as if every second word that came out of his mouth was "like" it really began to grate on me.I honestly don't think i could have "like" taken much more of it "like" you know what i mean "like".